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But when the dust settles, they will reflect on an evening when circumstances combined against them and an irrelevant defeat was inflicted.

Attempting to play international football with 10 men for more than 76 minutes is usually a futile exercise, and this was no exception.

Yet, if they are seeking excuses, then the early dismissal of their goalkeeper, Robert Green, will seem entirely convincing.

And if they are seeking consolation, then they will find it in the compelling performances of the admirable Wayne Rooney and the substitute keeper David James, as well as the knowledge that a one-goal defeat might easily have degenerated into a genuine hiding.

Before the match, John Terry had declared England's intention to 'put a smile on our fans' faces'.

It was a worthy ambition, if stolen straight from the Bumper Book of Captains' Cliches.

And, in fairness, that task did not appear unduly difficult.

Qualifying for the finals with two games to spare represented unprecedented prosperity.

It was as if England were being asked to undergo an audition for a part they had long since landed.

Flare for the job: David James stood out

But, of course, things can go wrong. And if the audience hunched over their computers doubted that truth, why, there was Sven Goran Eriksson punditing away in the studio, in black trousers, black jacket and black shirt; a cocktail bar crooner, circa 1967.

The very ghost of England past. And Sven, to his credit, summed up the whole affair in two pragmatic sentences.

'This doesn't mean anything at all,' he said. 'If you have to lose games, then OK, lose games when it really doesn't matter.'

England had played their strongest team, thus respecting the integrity of the competition.

And, naturally, there could be no letting up for Fabio Capello's Brave New England.

As the coach had said: 'I'm putting them under pressure. For me, it's always important to win. This will not be a friendly game.'

And we asked ourselves: what else could he say? And yet, inside 14 minutes, it all became terribly earnest with one of those chaotic errors so familiar to an earlier generation of England managers.

Rio Ferdinand's misjudgment of a hopefully flighted ball was a worrying mistake from the most accomplished defender in England.

It exposed Green to the run of Artem Milevskiy, and when the keeper came plunging in, the penalty was as inevitable as the red card which followed.

Mercifully for England, Andriy Shevchenko discovered his Chelsea form as he took the penalty, with the slovenly-struck ball slapping the outside of an English post.

Suddenly, the flares came flying from the terraces; real, menacing missiles, threatening the players and scorching the earth inside England's six-yard box.

In those hazardous moments, we sensed that Ukraine's right to stage the Euro 2012 finals was disappearing in a cloud of coloured smoke.

And rightly so. England's travelling fans responded with God Save the Queen, which is their default tune in moments of high stress.

But Ukraine were beginning to express themselves, and the lead came as no surprise.

Sure, it featured two mistakes by Ashley Cole; first losing possession, then deflecting the drive.

Paying the penalty: There was a shock for Ukraine hero Andriy Shevchenko, who failed to hit the target from the penalty spot

But the glory of the goal lay in the quality of that drive. Serhiy Nazarenko, from the local Dnipro club, fired it with savage precision, and it richly deserved its fate.

England did well to survive the rest of the half unpunished, especially when Milevskiy hit the full face of the post.

But they worked for their fortune and slowly organised some hopeful reprisals.

James simply grew with the game, and one improbable save from Yaroslav Rakitskiy will linger warmly in the memory.

And, as so often with this England, the heart and spirit of Rooney now came to the fore.

Asked to perform miracles of effort and commitment, he did his job quite selflessly. It was Rooney's influence which helped steer England through their immediate crisis, and he emerged in the later stages as the man most likely to save the game.

In the end, it was just beyond saving.

But if England are to travel to South Africa with anything resembling a chance of success, then Rooney will represent the most potent reason.

For even in their hour of irrelevant defeat, England once again acknowledged that Rooney is, quite simply, irreplaceable.